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MacKenzie Scott, billionaire philanthropist and Amazon co-founder, donates $640M to nonprofits across the country

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, March 4, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Scott announced Tuesday, March 19, 2024 she would give $640 million to more than 360 organizations in response to an application process she launched last year. The award is more than double the amount that she initially promised in an “open call” for applications.Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced this week that she will make major contributions to 361 nonprofits across the country.

Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon co-founder, Jeff Bezos, put out an open call for nonprofits and 6,353 organizations applied.

Officials narrowed down the list and picked out the 361 nonprofits to donate to.

In March 2023, Scott’s Yield Giving organization launched an open call “for community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles.”

The organization, Lever for Change led the evaluation process.

The open call initially planned for 250 awards of $1 million each but in the end Scott more than doubled that amount.

Last fall, organizations top-rated by their peers advanced to a second round of review by an external evaluation panel. The 279 organizations in the top tier of scores received $2 million each and the 82 organizations in the next tier received $1 million each.

The organizations are located in 38 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

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The 11 Pennsylvania nonprofits that received donations include:

Providing hope and resources for those affected by violence and advocating to end it.

Bread & Roses Community Fund is a funder of grassroots organizing for racial, social, and economic justice in the Philadelphia region.

  • 12 Plus, Philadelphia and Camden, N.J. •  $1M

12 Plus’s mission is to increase educational equity by building school cultures that inspire academic achievement and empower students to succeed in educational opportunities beyond 12th grade.

The mission of the Philip Jaisohn Memorial Foundation is to promote and fulfill Dr. Philip Jaisohn’s ideals of humanity through a broad range of medical and health care, mental health care, and social services along with advocacy and leadership development for the enrichment of the community.

The nonprofit preserves, protects, and develops affordable rental and homeownership housing in Hazelwood, invests in the Hazelwood business district, advances neighborhood greening and environmental justice goals, and providing a forum for community engagement.

Catapult Greater Pittsburgh engages in emergency resource distribution, peer-to-peer support, wealth building, trauma-informed financial counseling, and policy advocacy to ensure systematically disenfranchised communities can meaningfully achieve economic justice and lead dignified and equitable lives.

Read Alliance works to accelerate the educational trajectory of early elementary students through the power of teens who provide one-to-one literacy tutoring in under-resourced communities.

Beyond Literacy promotes literacy by providing free education and career readiness.

The foundation was founded in 2017 to improve the health of the LGBTQ+ and HIV communities.

  • Reel Works, Pittsburgh; New York, N.Y.; Los Angeles, C.A.  •  $2M

Reel Works mentors, inspires, and empowers underserved youth to share their stories through filmmaking, creating a springboard to successful careers in media and beyond.

Education Law Center-PA’s mission is to ensure access to a quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania.

Here’s the list of all 361 charities that Scott donated to:

To date Scott has donated $17.3 billion to more than 2,300 nonprofits.

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